As in Iowa, 7 per cent of Iowa’s population (and 0.066 per cent of the US population) will go to the community halls, school gyms, churches and homes where 1,784 neighbourhood precinct meetings are being staged for both the Democrats and Republicans. They will spend an hour or so discussing the candidates and then they will vote. A caucus is where groups (usually less than 10%) of the states population talks about the candidates then openly cast votes. It is usually reserved for the state politicos. Delegates at the convention are not required to vote the same as the results of their state caucus.

I'm going to my first caucus tomorrow, will I have to tell them why I want to vote for a candidate in order to vote? It's our first ever Nebraska caucus and I want to see how it's done and make sure my candidate is represented.

I'm looking to see what the actual Caucus event holds. But I do know a bit about the Iowa Caucuses because I'm from Iowa.

Iowa traditionally is a well balanced state. At least as far as the mix between conservatinves and liberals. With that in mind Iowa strives to be first every year. They do this because they want actual impact from the candidates. If Iowa wasn't first then the state wouldn't be visited by most candidates.

So they try to be first with New Hampshire in order to get more PR and to set the bar. Some believe that after watching what happens in Iowa you can get an idea for the rest of the nation. This year it's not the case since Obama and Clinton are so close. But other years this has proven fact.

I am aTexan, we voted for canidates today and the polls are closed at this time. People are standing in line to be admitted to caucus' all over Texas counties. What is the purpose after the vote?

why is it that you can win a primary in texas, like hilary does but yet lose the caucus there? That makes no sense? I thought majority votes was it? Why do we need more? Doesn't that make our vote irrelevant.?...

If you win the primary and the caucus, you are the BIG DOG!!! Winning the caucus gives you anither 60 or 70 votes. . . Thats why Texas is so important in the election

ok, so let me get this straight... on your state's election day, you go vote at a voter booth somewhere, then you go back to work, then that evening you go to a closed meeting & "caucus" about the candidates, and the resulting delegate votes from those who attend the caucus are the ones that count? So if someone can't manage to go to both the voting booth & the caucus, best just go to caucus cause that's the one that counts? That just doesn't make sense!

Nor does just having a Caucus make sense, each person's vote is supposed to be private & not influenced, and it sure doesn't sound like there's any of that from a caucus environment!

What's wrong with one vote per person, all added up, then the majority of popular vote gets the nomination? why is it so convulated & confusing? If you do have to split the delegate count, you can still do that by popular vote, 60% gets more then 40%?

Sounds to me like the Democrats came up with a way to circumvent the popular vote, if it doesn't go their way, there's still the caucus to whip the people to vote in their direction!

You shouldn't need a caucus AFTER or AS the election, the town hall meetings & your own research should have already told you all you need to know about your candidiates, a caucus sounds to me like a rile them up & get emotional revival means to get votes... appeal to the mob mentality so to speak, "go with the flow"!

Sounds like an abuse of the system to me, rather then any kind of a democratic process! Perhaps we need outside oversight on our voting process like we see provided to other countries to ensure fair elections!

The link posted earlier in this thread (to ThisNation) was a good overview of a caucus. Perhaps I am misguided, but it seems to me that their only purpose is to "move" the political power further from the will of the people. Majority does not necessarily rule...i.e., the Electoral College is not bound to the will of the people.

There are, also, superdelegates which change the voting power of the people. Under Democratic party rules, they are delegates to the national convention who are free to vote for the presidential nominee they choose, as opposed to the district delegates who are chosen based on primary and caucus results. All Democratic members of Congress, governors and Democratic National Committee members are superdelegates. The Republican party does not have superdelegates. It seems the Democrates do not think the voting public is informed enough to make an intelligent decision as to who should be President. Therefore, the people's popular vote may not elect the presidental nominee.